Welcome, Pandas!
Two giant pandas named Bao Li and Qing Bao recently arrived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Roshan Patel, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
Bao Li (left) and Qing Bao are the newest residents of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., received a special delivery earlier this month. Two pandas named Bao Li and Qing Bao arrived at the zoo after a long flight from China.
It’s been nearly a year since the National Zoo has had any pandas. China and the U.S. have an agreement in which China lends pandas to the U.S. in exchange for a yearly fee that China uses to conserve wild pandas. (The species was once endangered.) U.S. zoos get to keep pandas for a certain amount of time. The National Zoo kept its last pair of pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, for 23 years. When the zoo returned them, plus their cub, in November 2023, it was hard to say goodbye.
China has agreed to let Bao Li and Qing Bao, both 3 years old, live at the National Zoo for 10 years. Bao Li has connections to the National Zoo. His mother was born there in 2013 and returned to China in 2017. Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are his grandparents.
Courtesy of FedEx
Shipping company FedEx has transported many pandas on this plane, which is known as the “FedEx Panda Express.”
Mariel Lally, a panda keeper at the National Zoo, spent time with Bao Li and Qing Bao in China. She got to know them before flying with them to the United States. Lally says Bao Li is playful and outgoing. Qing Bao is quieter.
“Bao Li has a huge personality. He reminds me a lot of his grandfather, Tian Tian,” Lally told CNN. “[Qing Bao is] very reserved. She doesn’t always come when called because she would rather do her own thing. So, she’s a bit more independent than Bao Li.”
Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
This video of Bao Li and Qing Bao was made while the pandas still lived in China.
The new arrivals have been welcomed at the zoo with open arms, but it will be a while before the public can visit them. The pandas need to spend a few weeks in quarantine (alone)—something all animals do after traveling overseas to make sure they’re healthy. After that, they’ll have a chance to get used to their new home. The panda exhibit is expected to open on January 24, 2025.
The zoo will also have a panda livestream so people can watch the pair, no matter how far away they live.
